In topic this afternoon we learnt lots about the Royal wedding including members of the royal family and who is getting married. The children enjoyed doing lots of fun activities for example: designing a wedding dress, designing a cake, making a crown for Prince Harry and creating a wedding card.

We have been learning about measures in maths with a focus on length using centimetres. We worked in small groups to see how far a toy car could travel off the end of a ramp. We used tape measures to see how many cm it could travel and recorded our results on a whiteboard.

We had a fantastic day at the Box Moor trust learning lots about plants and flowers. We took part in lots of exploration activities. For example tree and flower identification, leaf crowns, scavenger hunts and much more. The children learnt so much from being outside and we would like to thank the leaders at the trust and also the parent helpers who came with us.

We had a very busy week in Year 1 with two school trips! We went to the sports centre and competed against lots of other year 1 schools in various sports activities. We did very well coming second overall! Thank you to our parent helpers who came along to help.

We have been reading poems based on our five senses and are now exploring poems about spring. To help us start to gather ideas, we went outside and collected thoughts about our five senses linked to spring. We will use these ideas to help us write a spring poem in literacy.

We have been working on a mini art project based on Vincent Van Gogh’s painting ‘sunflowers’. We learnt some facts and information about him and looked at some of his paintings. We then started to create our own sunflower picture using paint and pastels. We used peer marking to give each other feedback on things we did well. We are very proud of our finished pieces of art and they will be displayed in the classroom.

We are learning about Italy in preparation to make our own travel brochures. We thought of questions that we wanted to find the answers to and have used information from books and also the internet to find the answers. We found out lots of interesting facts!

We have been learning about aerial view maps and what they are. We used Google maps to find an aerial view of our local area and school and identified the human and physical features by labelling them. We then went outside into the playground to see if we could spot some things we found on the map.

In year 1 we have been learning how to tell the time using o’clock and half past. We played a board game where we had to make a time on our clock and our partners had to check if we were right. We also looked at adding on and taking away 1 hour from a given time.

The children enjoyed dressing up as their favourite character and taking part in lots of fun activities. We read the story of ‘Cat in the Hat’ and acted out part of the story. We also designed new hats for the cat and these can be seen on our new display board very soon!

As part of our topic learning we have read the story of the three pigs and ordered the story. We worked in groups to act out the story using masks and also had a narrator to retell the story. We performed to the class and gave each group verbal feedback

In science we have been learning about living things. We have learnt about different species of birds and have labelled diagrams of them. We went outside and used a bird identification sheet to record how many birds of different species we could see. We saw lots of pigeons, seagulls and magpies.

We had a great time sharing everything we have learnt this half term so far. We retold the story of little red riding hood, read out descriptions of the characters and setting as well as sharing our castles. We hope everyone enjoyed it!

In topic we have been working in small groups to design our own fairy tales castles made out of recycled materials. We have decided which boxes and containers we would like to use and have started putting them together. Next lesson we will be attaching it all together to make it stable. Watch this space for our final castles!

In maths we have been learning about money and using lots of different coins. We used shop role play in pairs to take it in turns being the shop keeper and the customer. We had to count out our own money to pay for an item and then the shopkeeper had to check it.

As part of our new topic called ‘fairies and frogs’ we have started reading fairy tales. We have read Little Red Riding Hood and answered questions about the story. We worked in groups to act out parts of the story.

As part of our first few days back we have learnt a little bit about how new year is celebrated and also watched some of the London fireworks. We thought about what we would like to achieve/ get better at this year and have recorded our ideas on stars. These have been displayed in the classroom.

Our next celebration we are learning about is the festival of Diwali. We have learnt what Diwali means and have read the story of Rama and Sita to help us understand some of the reasons why Diwali is celebrated. In groups we used masks to help us act out the story of Rama and Sita and performed it to the class.

As part of anti-bullying week we have learnt about what it means to be a good friend and about how we are all different but also equal. We thought of all the ways we are different to each other and then made a poster linking it to this. On our poster we drew a picture of ourselves and then wrote some things about us.

In literacy we have been learning all about instructions and how to write them. We have learnt about imperative verbs, putting steps in order, time conjunctions and how to add a title. We have written our own instructions about how to make a jam sandwich and followed them to make one of our own. We enjoyed tasting our yummy sandwiches!

The next event we have been learning about in topic is Remembrance day. We have learnt what it is about and why people celebrate it. In art we have made a poppy collage using tissue and shiny red paper they look very effective!

Our new topic is called ‘Come and Join the Celebration’ and we have started learning about Bonfire night. We first of all read the story of the Gun Powder plot and learnt about who Guy Fawkes was and why we celebrate bonfire night. We made freeze frames to show each part of the story and performed to the class. We have also created some firework night pictures using toilet rolls, plastic forks and straws along with paint and glitter to make them sparkly.

This week in maths we have been learning about 2D shapes and their properties. We have been on a shape hunt around the classroom and identified lots of 2D shapes. Some of us recorded what we found in our own way on a whiteboard. We made firework rockets out of shapes and then labelled them using post it notes.

On Monday 3rd July we had some nurses from the NHS come and talk to us about looking after our teeth. They demonstrated how we should brush our teeth correctly and let us have a go on a big set of teeth. We watched a video of Topsy and Tim going to the dentist.

Today all the children in the school had the opportunity to design and paint a pebble. We started off the morning with an assembly in the hall to explain the idea of painting a pebble. We then went back to class and we had to design our pebble on paper. We could only use 3/4 colours in our design to keep it simple and bright. Once we had designed our pebble we first of all had to paint it white for a base coat and wait for it to dry. Next was the fun part, we got to paint our designs onto our pebbles. The pebbles will now be varnished and put on display as a piece of art within the school grounds. The pebbles look great and we look forward to seeing them all finished and on display.

Today was the last forest school of the year! Today our parents were able to join us and see what we have been doing during forest school. We walked to the forest school classroom with our parents. Once we were there we all sat around the fire and we cooked some dough on sticks which we got to eat! We were then given free play to show our parents around and introduce them to all the activities we have been doing. We have loved attending forest school this year and have enjoyed doing all the great things outside in the woods.

Today we went to the Hemel Sportspace to take part in a DSSN Early Years sports event. When we arrived we sat in our classes and cheered for our chosen country in the opening ceremony. We were Australia and had flags to wave about! We then went off to compete in the different activities against 8 other schools. The activities were: cup stacking, space hoppers, agility running, balancing bean bags, quoit throwing, curling, bean bag throwing and egg and spoon. It was a great morning and we all worked really hard with each event. At the closing ceremony we were announced as coming 5th overall.

Today when we arrived at forest school we sat in the meadow. The forest school leaders read us the book ‘The Gruffalo’ and we were then asked to look out for signs of the Gruffalo on the walk to the forest school classroom. On the walk we found lots of signs of Gruffalo which we collected. During our walk we arrived at the large open meadow it was there that we found the GRUFFALO! Luckily it was just a soft toy. Whilst in the meadow we were given colour sheets and had to find plants etc to match to each of the colours and stick them on. After this we then walked back to the small meadow and practiced cooking dough over the fire so that we know what we need to do in the last session. We were then allowed free choice.

On Saturday 20th May we attended the South Hill year 3 and 4 football tournament. It was a great day with 11 teams entered into the tournament. All of our group matches were played on the Stamford Bridge pitch. Our first game was against Kings Langley (B) team and we won 1-0 with a goal from J. Next we played a good game against the South Hill (A) team and after a great effort we lost 1-0. In the next game we bounced back with a 1-0 win against Galley Hill (A) team with a powerful goal from Z. We then met with Westfield (A) and with a fantastic goal from J we managed to end the game with a draw.The last game we played was against Bridgewater and with a goal from J and Z and own goal by the other team we won with an easy 3-0 win. We then had a nervous wait to see if we got through to the semi-finals…… And after a short wait we found out that we had come second in our group and were going through to the semi-finals.

We went on to play a semi-final match against Galley Hill (A) on the Wembley pitch. After a tough game we won with the score 2-0 after two great goals from Z. We were through to the finals and our last game was against South Hill (A) with Mr Brathwaite as their coach. It was a great game and with one of our goals being disallowed (If only we had goal line technology!!) We lost with the score 1-0. We had some fantastic goals saved by O and worked well as a team to achieve good results. It was a great day had by all who attended and we all received runners up medals. A big thank you to J and Z’s dads for helping with coaching and managing the team on the day.

Today when we arrived at Box Moor Trust the leaders explained that we would be going to a different area of the woods and then to visit the pond. We spoke about special ways to keep ourselves safe when at the pond. The leaders then introduced the word ‘habitat’ and we discussed what it meant. We then listened to the book ‘Little Rabbit Foo Foo’. We talked about how to treat the animals in the woods and pond and we spoke about what type of animals we might find. Next we walked to a different area in the woods, and were given the opportunity to search for minibeasts. We were given spoons and bug pots to collect the minibeasts that we found. After we had searched for minibeasts we went to the pond area where we were given nets to search for minibeasts living inside the pond. We listened to the rules and how to keep ourselves safe whilst pond dipping. Today was the first time it has rained whilst we are at forest school and we got soaking wet as it poured down with rain all day!!

Today when we arrived at Forest school we walked to the forest school classroom. When we arrived we had to look for a teddy bear in the woods that we could care for. We then had a fire and warmed the Kelly kettle for our drink and snack. Next we had a teddy bears picnic. We used wooden logs for plates and natural resources for the food for example leaves and sticks. Before we went off to explore the forest school classroom we sung the song ‘The Teddy Bears Picnic’ – The forest school leaders said we were one of the best schools for remembering all the words. We then got taught how to peel a carrot using a potato peeler. We had to do it safely minding our fingers. At the end we had the opportunity to go and choose in the forest school classroom. We could make basket pulleys, build shelters, have a teddy bears picnic and practice the carrot peeling that we had been taught. It’s even better now the weather is getting nicer.

This term our topic is ‘Minibeasts’. We are really excited as we have 5 class caterpillars. We are watching the caterpillars change everyday and are keeping a class diary. We look forward to seeing them change into butterflies.

This week we have started the daily mile. Everyday we go outside for 15minutes and run, jog or walk as many laps of the field/playground as we can. Its great fun as we can talk to each other, exercise and get fit.

On Thursday 20th May we had lots of parents coming to see what we do at school at different parts of the day. Some parents came to phonics, literacy, topic and CIP (Child Initiated Play). Thank you for coming! We got to show are parents around and look at our work.

This week when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we were given a bird watching card and we had to listen and look out for birds as we walked to the forest school classroom. On route we also collected and added feathers to the bird watching card. After snack we watched a bird puppet show. We looked at six different birds nests that had been left behind by birds over the years. We then had the opportunity to either make our own birds nest or play with different activities that we have done over the weeks in the forest school classroom.

This week when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we were introduced to a lamb puppet. We then spoke about the seasons and the signs of spring time. We were then given a pair of binoculars to use to look for the different signs of spring on the walk to the meadow. We looked for bright yellow balls on our walk and next to the ball would be a sign of the spring time. We then sat down had our snack and listened to the story ‘Little Baa’. We then walked to Preston Hill Meadow were we looked at the ewes and lambs in the field. We spoke about how we needed to behave around the animals. We then walked to the Lower lambing barn. Before entering we all dipped our wellies into disinfectant and stayed behind the metal fence. It was great fun we got to touch the lambs and find out lots of information about the ewes and lambs.

We had a visit from the head veterinary nurse from Barton Lodge. She spoke to us about her job and what she does and we got to ask lots of questions. The most exciting part was when she showed us her pet animals. She showed us two guinea pigs and a tortoise. We were allowed to hold the guinea pigs and touch the tortoise shell. Emma the tortoise also showed us how she likes to eat banana.

Today it was World Book Day and we all dressed up as our favourite book character. For the day we did lots of activities based around the book ‘Stick Man’. We wrote about our favourite part of the story, painted our own stick men on the computer and made stick men using sticks from our garden area.

This week when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we played the peek-a-boo game using our hats as blindfolds. We then got to choose a puppet to take to the forest school classroom, whilst walking to the classroom we showed the puppets things of interest on the way. When we arrived we ate our snack sitting on the theatre logs. We then got to watch a stick puppet show performed by the forest school leaders. We were then shown how to make our own stick puppet. We were then able to have free choice time to explore the forest school classroom where we could make our own puppets or do activities from previous visits. It was great fun and we even brought some of the puppets back to school.

Today in art we were drawing daffodils. We spoke about the different parts of the flower, looked at photos of them and looked at how many petals they have. We then had the opportunity to look at the daffodils in our groups and then draw them.

This week when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we spoke about what ‘Camouflage’ is. The Box Moor Trust leaders showed us different pictures and we spoke about why animals would need to be camouflaged. On the walk to the outdoor classroom we turned into birds and had to find 3 worms each (pieces of wool). We were then shown how to make willow/leaf crowns and could make one if we wanted to. The other activities were to use netting and weave different natural materials through it to make it camouflaged, making swings for the animals, mud pictures on tree trunks and playing hide and seek in the wigwam.

This week we have been reading the traditional tale ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. During literacy we have made trolls using play-dough, lolly sticks, buttons and googly eyes. We have also made our own bridges with the characters using the construction resources.

Today when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we walked through the meadow to look at the fog. We were looking back and couldn’t see much in the distance as it was really foggy! We then walked to the Forest School Classroom where we played a blindfold game using our hats. We had to pull our hat down over our eyes and walk along a rope feeling our way. We then got the opportunity to this in pairs guiding each other along the rope. Next we had snack whilst sitting round the fire circle. The Box Moor staff heated some water using a Kelly kettle to help warm us up. We then had some free choice time to explore the Forest School Classroom.

It was very cold today at forest school and even the camera didn’t like the weather so we did not get many pictures.

Today we had our first Surprise Storyteller. The children were very excited as they did not know who was coming in to read. This week we had a dad come in and he read two books to the children – remember you can sign up if you would like to come in and be a Surprise Storyteller.

Today when we arrived at Box Moor Trust we walked to the meadow. We made pets using large sticks and rope. We learnt how to tie a timber knot. Once we had made our pets, we then named them and took them for a walk around the meadow. Whilst on our walk we saw some sheep and the Box Moor staff talked to us about them. We then used the large parachute in the meadow which was great fun in the wind. After that we then had some free choice time to make small animal houses, dig in the mud, use the binoculars, make a hobby horse or do some weaving.

Today we used the iPads to play on the app ‘Kodable’. We had to drag and drop commands to program the fuzzy character to get through a maze, we each worked with a partner. We have also been learning about E-Safety and have been watching videos about ‘Hector’s World’.

This week we have started our new topic ‘Once Upon a Time’. This term we are going to be reading a range of different traditional tales. This week we read the book ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We made blow paint art. We pretended to be the wolf from the story and blew the paint around the paper using a straw.

Today we went to St John’s church for a carol service. We sang lots of different Christmas carols and heard readings from the year 6 children. Each class made a decoration for our tree which was on display at the church.

Today was our first stay and read session, our mums and dads stayed for 20 minutes in the morning so we could read some books together. If they were not there we looked at books with our friends, it was great fun!

Today when we arrived at the Box Moor Trust we walked to the Forest School classroom and looked for interesting things on route using the binoculars. When we arrived we said ‘Hello’ to the name tree and placed our name card down, we then went and sat in the log circle and played some games and sang some songs. Today we watched as the forest school leaders lit a fire to warm the Kelly kettle on We spoke about how to stay safe around the fire. We then got to drink a warm cup of squash and eat a biscuit. After we listened to the story ‘Ferdie and the Falling Leaves’. We then got the opportunity to make natural tree decorations using leaves, mud and twigs from the forest.

We have started our new topic called ‘Penguins’. We have started to learn about Penguins and can talk about where they live, what they eat, how they stay warm etc. These are some of the things we have done during CIP.

Today when we arrived at the Box Moor Trust we walked to the Forest School classroom and looked for interesting things on route. When we arrived we said ‘Hello’ to the name tree and placed our name card down, we then went and sat in the log circle and played some games and sang some songs. Today it was raining and we sat under a sheet whilst the Forest School leaders read the book ‘One Winters Night’. We then went off to make new homes for the animals from the story. We learnt to carry sticks safely and what not to pick. Once we had made the new home we got to choose a soft teddy to put inside.

This week we have been learning about Halloween and Bonfire Night. We learnt about Bonfire Night and why we celebrate it every year on the 5th November. During CIP time we carved pumpkins, made skeleton pictures, chanted witches spells and painted firework pictures – plus lots more!

Today was our first time going to Forest School at Box Moor Trust. We had to wrap up warm and then we went on a mini bus to the Old Barn. When we arrived we got introduced to all the new grown- ups and put on some more layers of clothing. We put on our name badges and said hello to Meles the Forest School badger. We then walked to the Forest School classroom, whilst walking we were looking out for interesting things or things to be careful of. We said ‘Hello’ to the name tree and put our name cards down. We then went to sit in the log circle and talk about how to stay safe at Forest School. We were then allowed to walk around and collect sticks and other items to make a picture.

Today Yvonne, Jacqui and Nicky came to visit us at school. They took us outside in our forest school groups to look at the school grounds. We looked at different plants and trees and talked about the health and safety problems. We also got to meet Meles the Forest School badger. We then collected leaves to put onto our name cards which we will use when we are at forest schools to put around the ‘Name’ tree.

Today Yvonne, Jacqui and Nicky came to visit us at school, they are from the Box Moor Trust. We sang some songs and looked at pictures of the Forest School classroom where we will be going in a few weeks. We then got to decorate pieces of wood to make name badges, which we will wear at Forest School.